SORRY, BABY – Review by Lynn Venhaus
When bad things happen to good people, the wind is understandably knocked out of one’s sails – and the loving, concerned people around them.
Sorry, Baby is a specific, bittersweet look at how Agnes, a young woman in graduate school, is affected by a sexual assault, and her recovery in the aftermath.
Eva Victor, who wrote, directed and starred in this revelatory black comedy-drama, is a fresh new voice that demonstrates how an assured female point of view is sorely needed in modern filmmaking.
How she addresses the incident that pushes her off course is raw, honest and relatable. The film is also laced with humor – after all, Victor was first known as a comedian in viral content on social media.
The comedy, a little offbeat, sometimes self-deprecating and often at the hands of awkward social interactions involving her classmates, neighbor, best friend and her wife, is a comic relief component that doesn’t detract from the trauma but underscores the humanity that’s never lost.
Victor, winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for dramatic features at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, has carefully constructed this moving narrative into chapters that take place over a year.
As a non-linear before and after, she presents the time passages with discernible, yet subtle, changes.
The casting is a strong point, with natural performances from a skilled ensemble.
Her best friend, and former roommate, Lydie – an empathetic, sweet portrayal by Naomi Ackie – is a supportive listener the night it happens, and months later, when she visits after making a new life for herself in New York City. She also visits later with her controlling, fretful wife Fran (E.R. Fightmaster) and baby.
Agnes has been stuck ever since the betrayal of trust, even though she’s been hired as a junior professor at the same New England liberal arts college, much to the dismay of her envious frenemy Natasha, in a funny passive-aggressive performance by Kelly McCormack.
Agnes has added a rescue cat to her life, and has become closer to her timid, gawky neighbor Gavin, warmly played by Lucas Hedges.
In their earlier conversations, Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi), the faculty graduate advisor tasked with reading Agnes’ master’s thesis, seems to have a good rapport with her, and is an admirer of her writing. She meets him at his office, but the visit is cut short when his ex-wife asks him to pick up their sick child from school. Later, he asks Agnes to stop by his home.
We don’t see the interior interaction, only the home’s exterior as day turns into night. Afterwards, we hear the details as Agnes reveals them to Lydie.
Her ongoing efforts dealing with pain and panic are presented realistically without a false move. Agnes is heartbreaking and hopeful, a woman trying to make sense of “the bad thing that happened,” finding grace and kindness at surprising moments. The fine character actor John Carroll Lynch plays a sandwich shop owner with sage advice for a traveler in distress.
The finesse shown disclosing the dark times along with light and laughter is a tremendous balancing act that introduces an astute filmmaker with something to say. Eva Victor is an exciting breakthrough in 2025.
